Bypass Paywalls Clean alternative (2026)
Bypass Paywalls Clean (BPC) is a popular paywall extension, but it was removed from the Chrome Web Store — so installing it now means sideloading a .zip from GitHub and updating it by hand. RemovePaywall is a simpler, maintained alternative.
Why look for a BPC alternative?
BPC is no longer on the Chrome Web Store. Using it means downloading from GitHub, enabling Developer Mode, and re-updating manually. It is a rules-based extension, so its per-site rules need constant upkeep as publishers change their pages.
How RemovePaywall differs
RemovePaywall is reader-first: paste a link (or use the one-click bookmarklet or our Firefox add-on) and it extracts the clean article, then falls back to archive.today and the Wayback Machine, then a full-page view. Nothing to sideload, no per-site rule maintenance, and it publishes live per-site success rates.
One click, no sideloading
In Firefox (desktop and Android), our add-on installs normally from Firefox Add-ons and opens any article in a clean reader with one click. In Chrome, Edge or Brave, use the bookmarklet or type removepaywall.co/ in front of a link — nothing to sideload. Or just paste the link into the web tool.
Free paywall tools compared (2026)
| Tool | How it works | No install | No login | Languages | Shows success rates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RemovePaywall | Reader-first extraction, then archive.today + Wayback, then a full-page view | Yes (web; optional extension) | Yes | 10 | Yes — live, per site |
| archive.today | Public archive lookup only | Yes | Yes | — | No |
| Bypass Paywall Reader | Aggregator — redirects you to archives (Wayback, archive.today, others) | Yes | Yes | 5 | No |
| Smry.ai | AI reader + article summaries | Yes (also an extension) | Free tier; Pro is paid | — | No |
| Bypass Paywalls Clean | Browser extension with per-site rules | No — sideload from GitHub | Yes | — | No |
Live success rates
Unlike other tools, RemovePaywall publishes how often it works for each outlet, measured from real use. See the live list.
Got an article in mind? Try it now: